Today, I will be recapping Pounding the Pavement for Pink, a race that raises money for women and families impacted by breast cancer. It is hosted by the Seymour Pink organization, which also offers scholarships.
Course Map
Town: Seymour, CT, USA
Distance: 5km
Conditions: It was a very sunny morning with minimal wind. In fact, it was so bright outside that I had trouble using my phone and didn't take photos. It was 59F when the race started. The sun was quite strong for October and I felt unseasonably hot. The day did warm up into the low 80s by lunchtime.
Parking: This race has a huge number of participants so parking is complicated. The organizers provide free shuttles from multiple public schools in town, so participants are encouraged to park there and take the shuttle buses. I am told there was a long wait for buses this year at one of the parking lots. Because I wanted to leave shortly after the race, and the shuttles don't run constantly, I parked a half mile away at a public lot.
Check In: Race day check-in was strongly discouraged. I had formed a team for my running club's participants, and that made me the "team captain." Team captains are assigned with picking up the bibs and t-shirts for the entire team and distributing them independently. This was very inconvenient for me because I do not live near Seymour, CT and I actually did not know everyone who ended up signing up for my team. I was provided with a master list of names, t-shirt sizes, and bibs and that's about it. The list, notably, was in no discernible order so that made distribution very difficult.
Teams are allowed to set up a tent and folding tables in the "Team Village," which is a large parking lot near the Seymour Community Center. However, the road closes very early in the morning so I would have had to get there by 7am to do so. This sounds doable for local teams only.
Course Description: The course was quite hilly, starting with an extended downhill followed by flat ground for the first half mile. After that, the climb continued for the next mile or so, with uphill and flat sections. There were at least 2 water stops in the first half of the race, which was very convenient. There was also very visible community support in the second and third miles, which travel through more residential areas. There were folks handing out pink-themed swag items and water bottles from their driveways. The second half of the race was mostly downhill, given that we were descending the hills we climbed in the first half. The finish was flat to slightly downhill.
Afterparty: There is a huge afterparty for this race. The road by the Community Center is closed off and there are many sponsor tents with free food, beverages, and other free items. Runners get to see the best of it, because it is much less crowded before the majority of finishers enter the closed-off road. I would say out of the ~2k participants, approximately 25% are runners and the rest were walkers.
There was no wait for any of the refreshment tents when I finished, and I waited maybe 5 minutes in line for delicious ice cream from Ice Cream Emergency. After I caught up with some friends and finished my ice cream, I noticed the area was becoming very crowded and some of the refreshments were running out, notably the Starbucks iced coffees.
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